Tony_

Hull is more than a top scorer, 3rd all time in goals, I think he deserves a little more credit than that As far as other top name UFAs goes, this should be a damn fine example that even big name (and a future hall of famer) won't mind taking a pay cut. Shame on other UFA asking for 7 mill and more a season. Same goes for big names who are going under arbitration.

wow, phoenix is marking their terrority for next season (get it? like real coyotes do?, ya I know I'm not a freakin comedian).

His agent probably said the numbers. Maybe Zednik infored the NHLPA or his teammates and the info got leaked out.

The team might lack in player leadership but they counter that with their team spirit. Any big hit or big goal by any player easily motivates the team. They don't depend on Saku when the team is in a hole but they depend on themselves as a team to work together and come back in the game.

Saw this on TheFourthPeriod (the source of the article is from the Montreal Gazette): I wish Jim would come back :/

Speaking of the Habs, the owners (Gillett and Boivin) said in a press conference a few month ago that the team would have to access the 3rd round of the playoffs to break even. Albeit, that could be due to the lucrative and out of proportion contracts given to Rivet and Brisebois mainly when the Habs needed players and did all to keep them. But in the end, uncle George said he would pick up the tab and said it was fine with him. From what I hear, the financial situation is going great with the team for the next season. As far as the CBA goes, don't only blame the players, the owners are also responsible for this huge mess. I agree with simonus' second point in his post. Don't ######ing blame the players when the owners are stupid enough to sign players to insane deals (Pronger would be a perfect example). Gary Bettman is a moron, he knew this lock out that is going to happen (I'm hoping it doesn't) ever since he agreed with the NHLPA on the last CBA. He knew the market was going to inflate and all he could do during this whole time was worry about his salary cap. I don't blame small market teams who have no choice to offer crazy large deals to players to get fans in the seats to watch the games. But on the other hand, the team owners and management knew before investing into the team what they had to do. (Sorry if it gets confusing for this part). They should have solved this whole salary cap problem on the last CBA when salaries were still low and paying someone over a few million dollars was nuts. Sadly, the only way this CBA will be settled is by instoring a cap. There could be another solution but the only possible way I see it right now is if the NHLPA swallows their pride and tries to find a team salary cap limit that both sides can agree on. Apparently Bettman wants to instore a $31 mil. salary cap. That pretty stupid if you ask me since that's below average. If Bettman really wants to see his league in action one day he should try at least to be reasonable and make it a bit higher. If it was up to me, a salary cap in the range of $40 mil. wouldn't kill anybody except teams like Toronto. But hey, no one put a gun in their head to sign players to big deals (well at least I hope no one did). One way or another, this problem could easily been avoided if the owners would have taken a step against the players a few years ago regarding player salaries. As for now, this is a sad era for hockey fans (well NHL fans in particular), both parties say they want to make the fans happy but in the end it's the fans who will suffer when there will be no hockey in October. I don't know about you people but I would rather watch a complete 82 game season than some half ass season. Don't get me wrong, any hockey is better than none but you catch my drift.

hmmmm wasn't this new posted in the forum and on the front page this morning?

Dowd would be a great fit for the team. I doubt he'll play hardball regarding his salary. For less than a million a veteran like Dowd is a steal.

For what he brings to the team, it ain't expensive if you ask me. Zednik is a quality winger and a great asset to the habs.

Playing ability wise, I don't think Dagenais is that bad. If he could work in his speed and his checking when he plays it would make him a better player. Attitude wise, I still won't forget when Dowd made his way to Phoenix (when he debuted with Montreal). They had this thing on RDS and showed Dowd meeting his teammates. Every player that came out shaked his hand and welcomed him, hell even Chad Kilger did it and then Dagenais comes, Dowd extends his hand and he just walks along as nothing happend.

3 years That good news. As far as the second line goes, the club picked up Dagenais' option a while ago. Wouldn't he play on the 2nd line? They did have a good chemistry. As far as the fouth line goes, Morgan could (big emphasis on the word could) be there. He does have 6 games of NHL experience but I doubt that enough to fill the spot. On the bright side, there's a Kostitsyn artcile posted on the front page. That could be some hope if Habs don't sign any new UFAs. edit: speaking of Kostitsyn, I'm guessing this is the press release that was mentioned in the article. http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=3889 [Edited on 2004/8/4 by Tony]

Sorry for the double post but according to ESPN, Huet is making 600 000$ each season (for 2 seasons that is). Here's the link http://proxy.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?pa...e=04arbitration

Fixed the link for you habsfannr1 ;D http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect...newsItemID=3891

Well there's no salary mentionned on NHLPA. Hell even worse they still have Huet under the Kings and Garon under the Habs.

They probably will sign Zednik before going under arbitration. They avoided it with Huet I'm sure they could with Zednik.

It's official, Huet signs a 2 year deal (of course terms were not mentionned). <a href="http://www.canadiens.com/eng/news/redirect.cfm?sectionID=habsNewsDetails.cfm&newsItemID=3887" target=blank_>Link from habs website</a> edit: typo in link [Edited on 2004/8/3 by Tony]

woah http://proxy.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?pa...e=04arbitration Huet's case is settled according to ESPN (sorry I'd get you a TSN link but those douche bags IP banned me). Looks like Gainey will announce this tomorow. Heh, try to find a press release for Kovalev, you never know [Edited on 2004-8-4 by sakiqc]

Last time I checked I think Perezhogin is waiting for the IIHF's decision if he's suspended or not. Not sure though.

I wouldn't worry much about Perezhogin. I'm sure he'll find work easily. Either way if he ain't in the NHL, he'll probably be in the SM Liiga or some other European League. What could be the worst possible situation if he can't find a team to play on? Practice with the Habs? Doesn't sound that bad to me. edit: typo :/ [Edited on 2004/8/2 by Tony]

I'm pretty sure Cechmanek knows he's screwed for next season. One dumb move or showing inconsistency right off the bat will probably land Garon the job as the team's main man. Either way Roman's unorthodox style of play will come bite him in the ass one way or another. Only keeper who can pull that off is Hasek (well as far as I know).

Well I think it's a no brainer. Anyone would pick Garon over Huet any day. But the problem was there was no way Garon would take Theodore's position as the team's number 1 goal keeper. As for the trade itself. Considering it was back up for back up, I don't mind if it's Huet in nets. Garon is expected to make more than a million this season while Huet won't probably reach that salary in a few seasons.

That pictures cracks me up everytime I see it habsfannr1. The first time I got this it was in an email during a class last semester. I swear man I bursted this huge laugh everyone just turned around and gave me the weirdest look.

hmm doesn't it say that on the NHLPA website?

Sorry for the double post but this cracked me up

I can't wait to check out those clips after :/) Can't wait to see Langdon beat the holy hell out of Domi. If I remember right didn't Corson beat the crap ouf of Domi once? I think there was a picture of Corson (when he was with Montreal) getting ready to punch Domi, who was on his knees, on Office Glen's Website ( www.ihatetheleafs.com ). edit: remove cursing for safe measures and added url tags to website [Edited on 2004/8/1 by Tony]